Suarez appeared to have bitten Italy's Giorgio Chiellini towards the end of Uruguay's victory.

A FIFA spokesperson told Press Association Sport: "We are awaiting the official match reports and will gather all the necessary elements in order to evaluate the matter."

FIFA's disciplinary code sets a maximum ban of 24 matches or two years, but the longest ban in World Cup history was eight games for Italy's Mauro Tassotti for breaking Spain's Luis Enrique's nose in 1994 with an elbow.

Suarez has twice been banned for biting opponents - for 10 matches in 2013 for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic and in 2010 he was given a seven-game ban while playing for Ajax for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal.

FIFA's disciplinary code allows action to be taken retrospectively via video evidence even if the incident has been seen by the referee.

Article 77 of FIFA's disciplinary code states the disciplinary committee is responsible for "sanctioning serious infringements which have escaped the match officials' attention" and "rectifying obvious errors in the referee's disciplinary decisions".

Italy boss Cesare Prandelli - who went on to resign - confirmed he had seen the bite marks.

He said: "I didn't see Suarez biting him but I saw the bite-marks on his shoulder but the referee's assistants were so busy they didn't see anything.

"It's a shame, it's a real shame that it turned out like this."

Chiellini said it was "ridiculous" that Suarez had not been sent off while Italy's Claudio Marchisio was for a high foot on Arevalo Rios.

Chiellini, who showed the referee the bite marks, said: "The disparity in judgement has been evident.

"Marchisio's sending off was ridiculous but more so the fact that Suarez wasn't sent off.

"There's an inclination to protect star players but the referee should have shown him a red card."